Identification of sotalol-induced changes in repolarization with T wave area-based repolarization duration parameters

In this study, we investigated the validity of T wave area-based parameters for the identification of drug-induced changes of repolarization. Based on electrocardiograms from 39 healthy patients, we computed the stability of repolarization measurements and compared the sotalol-induced repolarization changes when measured with area-based parameters and traditional QT interval techniques (manual and automatic). Also, we evaluated the effect of different types of heart rate correction on these repolarization measurements. The results show that the stability of the automatic repolarization measurements is higher when measured using computer algorithm than using manual QT measurement. By using a population-based heart rate correction, the area-based parameters reveal significant modification of the overall shape of the T wave in its early, middle, and final part. In conclusion, morphological parameters of T wave are able to identify the changes in repolarization interval induced by sotalol. These parameters are more stable and thus more reliable than the traditional QT interval measurements.